Aramation Games

Space Invaders Extreme does a lot of things right and I can even forgive Taito for using “Extreme” in the title (at least they didn’t spell it Xtreme…). To celebrate 30 years of Space Invaders, one of the earliest videogames returns in the most satisfying remake since the original release.

Space Invaders Extreme doesn’t change the core concept: you still move left to right, enemies descend in waves, and your job is to shoot them all down before they either kill you or reach all the way down. What’s new is the whole audio and visual experience. Your actions such as shooting and destroying a space invader will produce synchronized sound effects, perfectly blended with the up-beat techno soundtrack. It is no black static background either, as the field you play on is incredibly colorful and perfectly matches the sound. It is an experience very similar to Lumines, which speaks volumes about how this game is successful.

Gameplay mechanic is tweaked as well by giving you power-ups: kill 4 of the same colored enemies in a row, and you will receive power-up based on the color of the enemy. Green will give you spread gun, red gives you a bomb, and blue allows you to shoot laser beam that you can sweep the field with. Shooting down those pesky alien ships will take you to the bonus stages (basically minigames) where you can try to exponentially increase your score.

At just $20, this is the best Space Invaders since the original. You shouldn’t miss out on this re-imagineering of the classic franchise.

Rating: 85%

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